Spiderwick – Le cronache è un film del 2008 diretto da Mark Waters, adattamento cinematografico tratto dalla saga di libri fantasy Le cronache di Spiderwick, scritta da Holly Black ed illustrata da Tony DiTerlizzi.

Leggi altre notizie su: | Mark Waters | Sarah Bolger | Freddie Highmore | David Strathairn | Mary-Louise Parker

The theatrical manner in which magicians perform their tricks has a twofold benefit. Firstly, it entertains the audience and entices them into a world where cynicism can be suspended for a time. Secondly, it keeps them distracted long enough for the magician to engage in the necessary sleight-of-hand for the trick to work. In Cold Souls, writer-director Sophie Barthes looks to employ a similar technique. Here, she draws the audience into a world where a company that claims to be able to extract a customer’s soul, store it, and replace it any time provokes only mild incredulity in its potential clients. On the other hand, when the cape is finally pulled away from around the bird cage, the latter frustratingly remains empty.

Put another way, there is no time given over here to providing insights into what the soul may be or even if we have one at all. The company’s managing director, Dr. Flintstein (played with deadpan lunacy by David Strathairn), would have us believe that this is because we still know so very little about it. All that he can offer is the ability to remove its heaviness from us. Hence, when an actor (Paul Giamatti playing a neurotic version of himself) turns up in search of a lightening of his spiritual burden, Dr. Flintstein gives his bottle of snake oil a good shake, easily fobs off any attempts by Giamatti to ask probing questions, and soon has his client agreeing to the procedure.

Acting like any good placebo should, Giamatti immediately proclaims that he does feel better. Conveniently kept animated then by “the residue of his soul that could not be extracted”, he ventures forth to embarrass his wife (Emily Watson) socially and to turn his titular role in Anton Chekov’s Uncle Vanya (a play about failed lives and heavy hearts, don’t you know) into upbeat lechery. To this point, the glacially-paced film is just about holding it together, thanks, in part, to an intriguingly moody subplot involving a mysterious blonde (Dina Korzun). However, with Giamatti’s character now rapidly dissolving into a mass of inconsistencies, the narrative soon finds itself on a slippery slope down to a disappointingly Walt Disney-type denouement.

Undeniably, the  morose, enigmatic, and subdued feel to this sterile and beautifully shot work is impressive. However, in trying simultaneously to be an eccentric comedy, a philosophical treatise, and a frozen mood piece, Cold Souls sadly ends up amounting to less than the sum of its parts. Yes, we may fill our lives with clutter, we may have forgotten how to look inside of ourselves, and we may always be attracted to dubious “quick fix” solutions to life’s complex problems. However, despite its inventiveness, creation of mood, and thought-provoking subject matter, a better film does seem to have been missed out on here. A pity really.

Directed by Wong Kar Wai (2007).
Stars Jude Law as Jeremy, Norah Jones as Elizabeth, David Strathairn as Officer Arnie Copeland, Rachel Weisz as Sue Lynne Copeland, Natalie Portman as Leslie the hardcore poker player.

I sometimes forget why I chose a movie. I mean, I am not much for romantic movies in general so I sat through the first couple of minutes of this with my head tilted and my face scrunched up ever so slightly. I thought I could see it all … the tragically predictable way it would play out. I was wrong.

Elizabeth’s boyfriend cheats on her and she takes refuge at a café run by Jeremy. I thought to myself “oh, no”. You know why. Girl meets boy. I won’t even bother running through the rest of the cliché that goes with that.

Thing is just when you think you know what you’re in for this movie does a sharp turn and goes off in another direction. Elizabeth leaves town. She heads out and finds work at a bar at night and a diner during the day. She meets Officer Arnie, a troubled soul who is in the middle of a bad divorce. His wife Sue Lynn has left him.

Again the story in itself is such a cliché that I think I’ve heard that particular country and western song a few too many times.

The reason why all this works has to do with pacing and distance and cinematography. Wong Kar Wai’s style puts you in mind of soft, improvisational jazz. It drifts around certain themes, comes back to them, goes at them from a couple of different angles, but always with the same basic emotional chords as a foundation.

The story with Arnie and Sue Lynn ends badly. There really is no other way for it to end.

Elizabeth moves on and winds up in Nevada where she works as a waitress in a casino. She runs in to Leslie, a professional poker player, who tricks Elisabeth into taking a road trip with her. Leslie has a strange relationship with her father, and this particular segment of the story is mostly about that.

The way the story is dealt with is mostly Elisabeth as a spectator getting involved in peoples lives by somehow landing smack in the middle of them. She grows up in the process, changing and acquiring the distance she needs to be able to go back to New York and meet up with Jeremy again.

It’s all a terrible cliché. It is. But the way it’s handled is beautiful and so well shot, so well acted, that you see beyond that. Sometimes things are a cliché because they are universal, because they do happen and because they are somehow part of the great narratives.

That’s what you get out of this if you go along for the ride. That, and a really great soundtrack.

Mule

Wong Kar Wai

I’m a great fan of Wong Kar Wai, and the fact that some critics trashed My Blueberry Nights made me a bit nervous. But not to worry: while it is not my favorite (that’s Fallen Angels), it stands way above the average Hollywood production. Cinematography (Darius Khondji), music (Ry Cooder), immensely decorative colors, a script with bitter-sweet symbolism — Wong’s trademark style is unmistakable. The acting — well, that’s a different story. He routinely works without a finished script, which gives his actors a lot of room to improvise and shine — or leaves them without needed guidance, as the case may be. Norah Jones should stay with her music (she sings exceptionally well); Jude Law as yet another heart-throb makes you yawn;  I can’t forgive Rachel Weisz for The Constant Gardener and The Shape of Things, and Natalie Portman who did a great job in Léon,  chose some mediocre roles as well.  In this film, she’s tolerable but not outstanding. That reward goes to David Strathairn as an alcoholic police officer — he by far outshines the other actors.

So yes — by and large, the acting is dull and wooden. And yet, this is a film worth watching; the critics who slam it go on and on with bakery-style metaphors like eye candy when in fact a truly good-looking film is something of a not-to-be-missed delight. No danger of vacuity, when Wong Kar Wai is directing.

The Bourne Identity (2002)
Directed by Doug Liman
With Matt Damon, Franka Potente, Chris Cooper.

identity

The Bourne Supremacy (2004)
Directed by Paul Greengrass
With Matt Damon, Franka Potente, Julia Stiles, Brian Cox.

supremacy

The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
Directed by Paul Greengrass
With Matt Damon, Julia Stiles, David Strathairn.

ultimatum

Recomiendo la trilogía completa, sin mas vueltas, una franquicia que revoluciono la forma de contar historias de espías, influyendo al propio James Bond y a muchas historias mas (Taken entre ellas) No creo que sea recomendable ver las tres de un solo tirón, pero recomiendo, por correlación de los hechos, que se vean en la misma semana, por ejemplo.

Okay guys. I literally just finished watching my favorite movie of all time. This is a documentary about a man named Dalton Trumbo. It is so eye opening, hilarious, inventive, and has the best excerpts in any movie I have ever seen, ever. I’ll break it down for you. We’ll start with the excerpts.

Okay, so all of the excerpts in this are read by very famous celebrities. Two of them are a couple of my favorite actors of all time: Liam Neeson and Paul Giamatti. However I have to give credit to all of the actors who read the excerpts because they did an amazing job. They were all extremely charismatic and brought Trumbo’s words to life so well that I felt like he was in the room saying them to me. It was incredible absolutely incredible. I won’t spoil anything, but my favorite one’s were the last one, the first Paul Giamatti one, and the one on masturbation (it’s a friggin’ scream).

Anyhow, the excerpts were so well done and I am so proud of everybody involved with the making of them.

Now you may think after what I’ve said that the excerpts overshadow the documentary part of the movie, but no. The great thing about Trumbo, is that the importance of both parts of the movie is balanced perfectly. You’re always excited to get to the excerpts, and you’re always excited for more documents. And some of the stories are amazing. They’re all told in great detail and you feel very satisfied after each one has been told. Some are very sad, but some made you laugh out loud. Some are very heartwarming and some are very mysterious, making you feel like a detective on the biggest case of your career. It’s an awesome thrill ride that anybody can enjoy.

I recommend Trumbo to writers and people in the movie industry, as well as people considering getting into politics. This movie is practically flawless and there is a reason I call it my favorite movie of all time. Buy this movie, now! It may be a little late to be talking about this, since it was made in ‘07, but hey, if you think that way consider it “an oldie but a goodie.”

In The Village Voice, Sophie Barthes, writer/director of Cold Souls, said of the obvious comparisons to this film, a meta-comedy where Paul Giamatti plays himself, and Charlie Kaufman’s first screenplay, Being John Malkovich, “I don’t want people to think my movie is derivative… I don’t think it feels like a Kaufman film—he’s much more cynical, sarcastic, and twisted.” While Barthes is spot-on, it’s the lack of a Kaufmanesque bite, which usually elevates his meta-comedies to stratospheric heights, that causes Cold Souls to feel…well, cold.

Paul Giamatti plays Paul Giamatti, an actor whose current role as the title character in Chekov’s classic Uncle Vanya is weighing heavily on his shoulders. He is depressed, with perpetually slumped shoulders and feelings of inadequacy. He happens upon an article in The New Yorker (an amusing concept) that describes a growing business that extracts your soul and allows you to live without burden for a period, while your soul sits in cold storage. Unfortunately for Giamatti, when he decides he wants his soul back, he discovers it’s been taken by a soul mule (Dina Korzin) to the wife of the Russian underground soul trade who desired to have the soul of a great actor– she thinks she has Al Pacino’s soul. Now, with the help of the mule (who has seen his soul and how beautiful it is), he travels to Russia in an attempt to get it back.

If you take the concept by itself, you would imagine a 4-star film at work. Giamatti indeed does great work here, and the plot points are clever– unfortunately, they are almost exceedingly clever, and since the film never really uses the plot to uncover deeper truths about the human experience the way other meta-comedies have, it becomes the type of film where you pat yourself on the back for understanding how complex and clever the plot is rather than getting completely lost in the proceedings. Giamatti and the mule try, but we never really get to experience any true deep feelings in the film, except for when Giamatti is portraying Vanya on stage, after seeing two scenes of which I desired to switch from the current plot to a strict movie adaptation of Uncle Vanya. These scenes achieve depth of emotion and seem to speak to the human experience.

While Barthes may find Kaufman to be sarcastic and twisted, Kaufman uses these traits in his films Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and Synecdoche, New York to share his unique perspective on the world, and his often absurd imagery and plot twists can take us to a blissful place. Barthes’s perspective seems far less unique, and Cold Souls never moves past what it is– an mildly entertaining, diverting bit of clever writing surrounding a charismatic character actor. It has more thought than most films, but doesn’t take it to the next level. A running comment about how Giamatti never wants to see the contents of his soul– which reveals to anyone who’s ever seen a movie that he will see it by movie’s end– sets up what should be Barthes’ blissful imagery moment. It’s memorable but never goosebump-inducing. Cold Souls has intelligence to spare, but ironically, it lacks soul.

Rosamund Pike Movie: Fracture

A structural engineer (Anthony Hopkins) and an ambitious young district attorney (Ryan Gosling) become locked in a deadly battle of wits when the former is found innocent in the attempted murder of his wife in director Gregory Hoblit’s tense tale of courtroom mind games. Ted Crawford (Hopkins) is an engineer who lives with his wife, Jennifer (Embeth Davidtz), in the couple’s lavish Southern California home. One day, after carefully planning out the details to ensure that there is no way he can be convicted of murder, Ted shoots his wife in a blatant attempt to kill the woman. When head hostage negotiator Rob Nunally (Billy Burke) arrives on the scene to speak with Ted, he is shocked to find that the victim of the shooting is in fact his longtime lover. Though Jennifer survives the trauma of being shot in the head at close range, she hovers comatose between life and death as star prosecutor Willy Beachum (Gosling) reluctantly accepts the case while preparing to leave the Los Angeles criminal court system behind for a more promising career at a posh private law firm. Though the DA (David Strathairn) vehemently resents Beachum’s lofty plan for departure, the hotshot young lawyer remains convinced that he can expedite the apparently open-and-shut case and be on his way to greener pastures in one week’s time at the very most. Beachum’s swelling ego betrays him, however, as his future boss Nikki Gardner (Rosamund Pike) begins to turn up the heat and fracture mechanics specialist Ted chooses to represent himself at the trial knowing well that a career spent spotting structural flaws in aeronautical systems has instilled him with just the kind of argumentative skills needed to riddle the swaggering young lawyer’s “foolproof” case with doubt.

Por Bruno Pongas

Embates históricos entre grandes políticos e jornalistas se fizeram presentes com bastante frequência durante o século XX. Enquanto no Brasil tinhamos a briga ferrenha entre Getúlio Vargas e Carlos Lacerda – desde o final da década de 1940 até meados dos anos 50 -, nos Estados Unidos pudemos observar um panôrama semelhante. Mais especificamente em 1977, Richard Nixon, ex-presidente norte-americano, confrontou intensamente o jornalista David Frost sobre seus controversos anos no comando da Casa Branca – tema que, inclusive, virou pauta de Frost/Nixon, filme indicado ao Oscar no ano passado (2008). Alguns anos antes, voltando à década de 50, tivemos outra luta que marcou época.

De um lado, o contestado senador por Wisconsin, Joseph McCarthy, famoso por sua intensa política anticomunista. Do outro, o renomado jornalista da rede CBS, Edward R. Murrow. McCarthy entrou para o senado americano em 1946, e, num período de quase dez anos, colocou seu nome na história (pelo lado negativo). A personalidade forte e as atitudes invasivas deram origem ao adjetivo hoje compreendido por Macarthismo. Esse conceito passou a ser empregado àqueles com atitudes antidemocratas, como as do próprio senador, que se valia de artifícios pouco ortodoxos para acusar os simpatizantes do regime comunista.

Com bastante habilidade, George Clooney consegue um bom trabalho atrás das câmeras, nos premiando com uma narrativa densa e impactante. O roteiro cuidadoso – também assinado por Clooney -  traz diálogos incrivelmente bem estruturados, de primeira qualidade. Boa Noite e Boa Sorte aparentemente tem tudo para ser um blockbuster, ainda mais se levarmos em conta o elenco recheado de estrelas. No entanto, o longa passa longe de ser comercial, e há uma série de motivos que comprovam isso: primeiro que ao optar por uma fotografia em preto e branco, Clooney já afasta logo de cara uma grande fatia do público, afinal, ainda há certo preconceito contra os filmes em PB. Segundo que os diálogos excessivamente longos e carregados assustam! – e logicamente devem espantar outra fatia da audiência. 

Falando em fotografia, o fato de se contar a história com ausência de cor legitima ainda mais a obra. O preto e branco, juntamente com o figurino caprichado e a música caracterizada, nos proporciona uma viagem direta aos anos 50. O que difere o filme de um clássico daqueles tempos é somente a qualidade da imagem, tirando isso, Boa Noite e Boa Sorte se passaria tranquilamente por um sucesso de época. George Clooney coleciona aqui uma gama infindável de acertos, pois tecnicamente seu trabalho é quase perfeito.

Para finalizar, outro ponto que merece bastante destaque é como o ambiente jornalístico é retratado. Quem é do meio sabe que esse mundo é comandado por interesses políticos, de patrocinadores e de pessoas que detém o poder… Clooney, nesse que foi seu segundo filme como diretor, nos revela os bastidores por trás das câmeras, o jogo de interesses onde manda quem tem dinheiro e a influência que os ‘poderosos’ têm sob os veículos midiáticos. Ou seja, além de servir como um retrato honesto da batalha entre Joseph McCarthy e Edward R. Murrow, o longa ainda deixa explícita a sujeira que ocorre no meio jornalístico – um prato cheio para qualquer cinéfilo.

Minha Nota: 9.5

Direção: George Clooney
Gênero: Drama/Histórico
Duração: 93 minutos
Elenco: George Clooney, Robert Downey Jr., Thomas McCarthy, Tate Donovan, Grant Heslov, Alex Borstein, David Strathairn, Jeff Daniels, Robert John Burke, Frank Langella, Patricia Clarkson, Matt Ross, Ray Wise e Reed Diamond.

Good Night, And Good Luck. looks at the early years of television and journalism principles; specifically the on-air clash in the 1950’s between Edward R. Murrow of CBS and Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin. With an outstanding cast, including McCarthy himself through archival footage, this film comes alive with intense emotion while depicting the historical See It Now shows and journalism integrity.

http://www.dainsmoviereviews.com/2009/09/good-night-and-good-luck-movie-review.html

Paul Giamatti takes a good look at himself in "Cold Souls".

(Sophie Barthes, 2009)

September 7, 2009

by Joel Crary

Paul Giamatti plays himself in “Cold Souls”. At least, I’d like to believe he does, because to believe that Paul Giamatti is put into a tube to have a look at his own soul is to fully understand the importance of an actor’s ability to put himself in touch with the very nature of being. Paul sees his feet, but how does he know they’re his, or the feet of the character he plays, or simply the word for an otherwise elusive concept of what keeps a person upright?

The soul is an elusive concept – far more elusive than feet, which can be easily spotted. It takes on a different meaning to different people, most of whom might be as offended as Paul to find out that their soul is chick-pea like in size, colour and shape. “Coul Souls” operates on the notion that souls are physical properties of ourselves that can be not only identified, but removed and stored in a freezer for safekeeping or later use. Their removal is facilitated by a large cylindrical machine that doesn’t appear to leave any surgical scars, though if the procedure is performed too many times it can leave one prone to nosebleeds.

Paul is struggling with his role in a production of Chekov’s “Uncle Vanya”, finding himself drawn so deeply into his character that his life becomes a miserable reflection. He reads about the procedure in The New Yorker (where else?) and investigates. He asks rather sensible questions of Dr. David Flintstein (David Strathairn), who assures him that a de-souled body makes for a life removed of dark thoughts and complications. This much is true, but Paul’s new lack of complication makes him unable to play the part.

So much of acting is empathy and compassion, two other qualities that disappear from Paul’s repertoire once he is soulless. He recognizes that he is in danger of losing his job and decides to have the procedure reversed. Unfortunately, his soul has been absconded with to aid in the budding acting talent of a Russian black market soul trafficker’s wife. Paul and a Russian soul mule (Dina Korzun) travel to Russia to get it back, with Paul running on the rented soul of a Russian poet, chosen from a catalogue like an IKEA cabinet.

The film portrays Paul’s odd situation quietly without resorting to broad and obvious laughs. Giamatti is one of the current great American actors, exchanging looks of great pathos for blank stares, presenting himself as a lively feature player one moment before turning into a disembodied brain operating a body the next. Sporting a beard that covers his mouth and limits his facial contours, his expressions resonate profoundly in his eyes. After Paul is given a view of his soul, he removes a pair of dark glasses to reveal a look of amazement and infinite understanding.

Soul removal presents a lot of questions that the film wisely chooses to avoid answering. Even Dr. Flintstein is uncertain of the soul’s relation to the body beyond its tendency to leave a residual amount behind, more than likely as a defense against draining the body of the emotional investment needed to chew food and breathe. What the movie believes is clear – the soul is necessary for the body to feel. We are not ourselves without our souls. Those who have souls transplanted experience memories and visions fundamental to the person who formed the soul into whichever shape it takes, chick-pea or charcoal sized.

The poet John Keats believed that life was a process of soul-making, and “Cold Souls” seems to agree, at least to the degree to which it makes the soul a product of experience and trauma. Paul needs a poet’s soul to play his role, but he needs his own soul to be Paul. His wife (Emily Watson) notices a change in the way he feels, looks and smells. The soul is bound to those we choose to share it with, and they contribute to the other’s soul in turn. We are the result of a very specific equation, and if one element is removed, we just don’t add up.

Appropriately, the film is very Russian in atmosphere and structure, with characters who seem to thrive on bleakness, grey tones and less-than-ideal conclusions. A Japanese soul trafficking operation would have made “Cold Souls” a very different film. “Uncle Vanya” is a play about a man who rails against his dissatisfaction with the person he becomes, all the while suffering under the irony that he is invariably who he is. Actors are in the business of becoming different people for a short time. Paul is desperately in need of a look at himself before his character becomes him.

“Cold Souls” is the first feature written and directed by Sophie Barthes, who approaches her material with the slanted metaphysical view of Charlie Kaufman and the black humour of Jim Jarmusch. These directors are simply adjectives to describe her style, which will no doubt develop into something wholly her own in time. Her first effort is a doozy.

Last night I met up with a fellow I worked with years ago in Asheville, North Carolina on a film called “A Good Baby” starring Henry Thomas and David Strathairn. He’s a really nice guy, and he was up here for the week with his girlfriend and her daughter who is starting her freshman year at New York University.

NYU is the largest private university in the United States with an enrollment of 38,391 students in its undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs in 2009. That’s not even including the 12,526 in their noncredit programs.

We met at the White Horse Tavern on Hudson Street in Greenwich Village between Perry and 11th Streets on a Thursday night. Figured it would give them a look into where the daughter might just be spending some evenings. At NYU a lot of students don’t schedule classes on Fridays, so Thursday becomes a big drinking night out, and The White Horse Tavern is one of the many popular watering holes in the Village.

Founded in 1880, The White Horse Tavern was originally a favorite bar of longshoremen. In the 1950s,  poet Dylan Thomas began to hang out there, soon to be joined by other writers, and thus bestowing the tavern with a literary reputation.  Dylan Thomas’s picture hangs on several walls there and it was after a heavy night of drinking at the White Horse that he died. Some of the other famous customers included James Baldwin, The Clancy Brothers (who also performed there), Bob Dylan, Jack Kerouac (who had been staying at an apartment on the corner of 11th Street, and apparently was frequently thrown out of the bar), Norman Mailer, Jim Morrison, Mary Travers, and Hunter S. Thompson.

Anyway, the daughter is very psyched about being in New York and starting this adventure. My friend confided in me that her mother is growing increasingly emotional about her little baby bird leaving the nest, and he expects it will be heart-wrenching plane ride back to Charlotte.

I can sort of remember my family seeing my older brother off to college when I was a boy. We were at the airport, and I just remember my Mom looking out over a baclony from inside the terminal, watching the plane taxi onto the runway, and then take off, and then fly fly fly away until it was gone. If there was any crying I probably just mentally blocked it out.

They did a lot of touring about the city and I suggested since it was so close that they stop by 75 1/2 Bedford St. to see the city’s narrowest apartment building (see my posting on August 30, 2009).

They also stopped by a friend’s apartment who was working on an album with several other well-respected jazz musicians. My friend’s girlfriend may in fact have suggested their album’s title. She came up with “Sleepover” and it seemed to have been met with a positive response.

Kind of a cool title I have to agree. A cool title for almost anything really. An album, a song, a play (nice easy setting for a production: a bedroom with lots of fun banter between some teenage girls having a sleepover. Or maybe…maybe the play is about a man and woman who were out on a date and the woman asked the guy if he’d like to come in for a nightcap and then the play becomes about his trying to spend the night and her resisting…could be comedic, could even be scarily nasty.) “Sleepover” would also be a cool movie title…”The girls at NYU thought they were having a nice fun innocent sleepover after a night at the White Horse Tavern. Little did they know they would have a visitor…..”SLEEPOVER”–the night bedtime was dead time!”

“Sleepover” is the title of a 2004 film directed by Joe Nussbaum about a group of teenage girls competing in an all-night scavenger hunt against a more popular group of girls. Steve Carrell (pre-”The Office”) appears in the small role of a security guard named Sherman.

Okay, it’s been taken. Had to figure it was. Another title my friend’s girlfriend came up with was “Suckerrific.” We had a nice laugh over that, and…Oh! look at this, nothing on imdb.com with that title! Who needs lawyers to do title searches, when we’ve got good ol’ imdb! Yeah, but does imdb thoroughly cover the adult film industry, in which “Suckerrific” might very well be a movie title?

Perhaps I should check other sources. This could take a while.

(Sources: http://www.nyu.edu/about/facts.html; http://nymag.com/listings/bar/white_horse_tavern/; wikipedia, imdb.com )

Ah, eu quero provar dessa torta!!!

Se você ainda  não viu esse filme com a Norah, o Jude, a Rachel e a Natalie, veja o trailer:

i’m really excited about this film. the cast includes james franco as allen ginsberg, along with jon hamm, mary louise parker, and david strathairn. the plot centers around  the obscenity trial ginsberg faced after the publication of his poem, howl.